Rotary disc bun cluster slicer



June 14, 1955 Filed 001:. 19, 1949 L. A. FISH ROTARY DISC BUN CLUSTER SLICER 3 Sheets-Sheet l J, ORNEY June 14, 1955 L. A. FISH 2,710,637

.ROTARY DISC BUN CLUSTER SLICER I Filed Oct. 19, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR L. A. FISH ROTARY DISC BUN CLUSTER SLICER June 14, 1955 s Sheets-Shet 5 Filed Oct. 19, 1949 INVENTOR ZeaZz'e/2LZ2570, .16%

' ORNEY ates Patent-iiFice 2,710,637 Patented June 14, 1955 ROTARY DISC BUN CLUSTER SLICER Leslie A. Fish, Phillipsburg, N. J.

Application October 19, 1949, Serial No. 122,331

6 Qlaims. (Cl. 146--73) This invention relates to machines for splitting globular articles horizontally. While machines of this character are capable of being used to split articles of various types, the invention will be described, solely by way of example, as embodied in a machine for splitting breadlike articles such as buns, rolls and the like, in a horizontal direction, to permit the insertion of edibles such as hamburger, Wieners and similar filling materials.

While machines of this type are known, they are limited in their use for various reasons. Principally they are too limited in their output and are incapable of operating on baked goods without removing the goods from the bake pans, thus requiring that the goods be supplied to and removed from the pans in connection with the slicing operation.

One of the objects of this invention is, therefore, to provide a machine capable of splitting the articles without removing them from the bake pans, thereby making it possible to perform a continuous operation of baking and splitting.

Another object is to provide a machine which is capable of operating on a plurality of rows of articles in end-toend relation simultaneously.

Still another object of the invention is to so arrange the splitting elements that they operate on a plurality of articles at one time, and to provide for both vertical and horizontal adjustment of the splitting elements.

An additional object is to provide a structure in which each splitting disc has an individual driving motor,' thus making it possible to operate as few or as many motors as desired and with only a simple alteration of the machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description when it is read in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l is a side elevation ofone type of machine embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged partial top plan view of the machine showing the articles in operative position with respect to the splitting mechanism;

Figure 3 is a vertical section substantially on the line 3-4; of Fig. 2, showing the relation of the splitting mechanism to the articles to be split; 7

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view of means for adjusting the splitting mechanism;

Figure 5 is a sectional view of the adjusting means, the section being taken on line 55 of Fig. 4;

Figure 6 is a plan view, similar to Fig. 2, but showing a modified form of the invention in which an individual driving motor is provided for each splitting disc;

Figure 7 is. an end view of the structure shown in Fig. 6; and

Figure 8 is a sectional detail taken on line 88 of Fig. 7.

Referring first to Fig. l of the drawing the reference character 11 designates the base of the machine having uprights 12 and braces 13, 14 and 15 for supporting a table 16. As shown, the base is mounted on wheels 17 to make it possible to move it about as desired. In practice the sides of the frame, made up of the parts just set forth, may be enclosed, but the enclosing means has been omitted to simplify the illustration.

Mounted on the ends of the frame are shafts 18 and 19 carrying a wide conveyor belt 21 for feeding the bake pans to the splitting mechanism. Shaft 18 is mounted in adjustable bearing blocks, only one of which is shown at 22. This block is slidable in slot 23 in guide 24 by means of a threaded adjusting rod 25, and a nut 26. The nut is carried by the guide 24 but is rotatable on it. The block 22, and its companion at the back, can be adjusted to vary the tension-on conveyor belt 21.

The belt 21 serves as a means of receiving and delivering to the splitting mechanism a plurality of shallow bake pans having buns therein as indicated in Fig. 3. The splitting mechanism comprises a plurality of rotatable splitting discs 27, 28 and 29 carried by shafts 30, .31 and 32 rotatably mounted in bearings adjustably carried on supports 33 and 34. For example, as shown in Fig. 3, shaft 30 is carried in two bearings 35 and 36, each adjustable in the slotted supports 33 and 34 by means of nuts 37: (Fig. 4). Such adjustment provides a means of varying the position of the splitting discs with respect to the buns 38 carried in the pans 39.

As shownin Fig. l, a single driving motor 40 actuates all of the splitting discs. For example, a belt 41 on the motor pulley drives shaft 31 through pulley 42. The shaft 31 above support 33 also carries two pulleys 43 and 44 which, through belts 45 and 46, drive pulleys 47 and 48 on shafts 30 and 32. The motor 40 is pivoted on the supports 33 and 34 in such manner that manipulation of screw 49 serves to vary the tension on belt 41.

Inasmuch as the pans merely rest loosely on the conveyor belt, and the buns, in turn, rest loosely on the bottoms of the pans, some means must be provided to hold the buns firmly during the splitting operation. As shown, this means takes the form of pressure belt means mounted above and adapted to rest on the tops of the bunsin order to prevent undesired slippage during the splitting operation.

In Fig. 2 reference characters 51 and 52 represent end frames in which are mounted two shafts 53 and 54, each carrying a plurality of spaced pulleys 55 and 56. These pulleys are spaced laterally by a distance which approximates the spacing of buns to be split. Endless belts 57 connect each pulley 55 with its companion pulley 56 on the other shaft so that the lower runs of the belts travel in the direction of the arrow and at the same speed and in the samedirection as conveyor belt 21. The pressure belts 57 are all kept taut by a common idler pulley 58 mounted on shaft 59 which is pivotally attached to the end frames by arms 61 and 62. i

The drive of both the conveyor belt 21 and the pressure belts 57 is carried out by a single motor 63 carried on the frame 11. Through suitable gearing two pulleys 64 and 65 are driven by the motor 63. The small pulley 64 is connected by belt 66 to a pulley 67 on the shaft 53 to drive the pressure belts 57. Large pulleys 65, on the other hand, drives a pulley 68 on shaft 19 by means of belt 69.

The sides of the table 16 carry adjustable guides 71 and 72 forming a throat to. position the bake pans with respect to the splitting mechanism. These guides may be clamped in adjusted position by means such as the friction clamps 73.

It will be clear that when shallow bake pans are placed on the conveyor 21, at the right hand end in Fig. 1, they will be carried toward the splitting discs 27, 28 and 29. When they approach the discs they will engage the belts 57 and will be held in non-slipping relation to the splitting discs, as indicated in Fig, 3. Each disc will split two rows of buns and the operation will be continuous so long as pans are fed to the machine. The idler roller 58 Will maintain the belts 57 in proper tension and insure a clean smooth cut. The buns need not be removed from the pans until they are packaged. Thus the mechanism 5 provides a simple, positive means of carrying out the splitting operation without removing the buns from their pans.

Under some conditions it may be desirable to use a smaller capacity, that is, only one or two splitting discs. A machine capable of adaptation to such use is shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. It is essentially similar to the machine just described except that an individual drive motor is provided for each splitting disc, and the idler means are arranged to permit ready access to these motors so that one or more of the motors can be removed, when desired, without affecting the operation of the remainder of the machine. Since the table with its conveyor belt will not be changed from that already described it will only be necessary to describe the modified form of splitting mechanism.

Referring now to Fig. 6 it will be seen that a plurality of individual drive motors 75, 76 and 77 are mounted above the belt 21 on guide bars 78 and 79 carried on side frames 81 and 82. The bars 78 and 79 are spaced to permit the motor shafts to be inserted and provided with a splitting disc as at 83. Each motor is similar to each other, hence a description of one will suflice. The motor bases are bolted to the bars 78 and 79 by bolts 84 to permit removal of any motor without distributing the others.

Placement of the motors in the center of the machine requires a rearrangement of the pressure belts. Accordingly, two sets of wide pressure belts placed, one fore and the other aft, of the motors, replace the several belts required in the first form of the machine. End frames 85 and 86 support four shafts 87, 88, 89 and 91. These shafts carry wide pulleys so that a wide endless belt 92 connects shafts S7 and 88, and a similar belt 93 connects 89 and 91. Idlers 94 and 95 pivoted on the end frames 85 and 86 serve to keep these pressure belts taut.

The pressure belt means may be driven from a motor such as 62 in Fig. 1. In such a case a belt 96 from the main motor drives a pulley 97 on shaft 87, and shaft 87 in turn carries at the back a pulley 98 which drivesthe shaft 91 through belt 99 and pulley 101. As in the first form of the invention, the lower runs of the pressure belts engage the tops of buns carried in pans traveling on the conveyor belt 21. Since the. motors are readily accessible, one or more of them may be removed without disturbing the others, and without disturbing the pressure belts. The mechanism of Figs. 6, 7 and 8 has all of the advantages of the first form with the. added advantage of greater flexibility in use, and a reduction in the number of pressure belts used.

It will be clear that the machines above described provide a substantial simplification in the splitting of buns and make it unnecessary to split the buns manually or to remove them from the bake pans for splitting. Thus a single machine of this type may make it possible for one person to perform operations which previously required several persons. A bakery may, therefore, use at a cost only slightly above that charged when no splittingis performed.

Although I have described only two forms of bun splitting machines embodying the invention it will be obvious that numerous changes and modifications may be made in the details, within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A machine for splitting buns comprising, an end. less conveyor having a horizontal upper flight, a pair of longitudinally spaced endless presser conveyors of substantially the same width as the first-mentioned con; veyor having lower horizontal flights aligned with and spagcd from the upper flight of the first-mentioned endless conveyor a distance equal to the average height of the buns, spaced splitting discs located transversely of the conveyors and between the upper flight of the firstrnentioned conveyor and the lower flights of the presser conveyors and parallel thereto, drive shafts for carrying the splitting discs and extending from above the lower flights of the presser conveyors between the same, end portions of the IOVVEI' flights of the longitudinally disposed presser conveyors overlying chordal portions of the splitting discs on opposing sides of their axes to press the buns against the first-mentioned endless conveyor while being cut, a drive means for the conveyors and separate drive means for each splitting disc.

2. A machine for splitting buns comprising, a traveling conveyor adapted to support said buns in a position to be split, a pair of longitudinally spaced endless presser conveyors having lower horizontal flights aligned with and spaced from the upper flight of said traveling conveyor, splitting disc means between the traveling conveyor and the lower flights of the presser conveyors and parallel thereto, a drive shaft for carrying the splitting disc means and extending from above the lower flights of the presser conveyors between the same, end portions of the lower flights of the longitudinally disposed presser conveyors overlying chordal portions of the splitting disc means to press the buns against said traveling conveyor while being split.

3. A machine for splitting buns comprising, a traveling conveyor adapted to support said buns in a position to be split, a pair of longitudinally spaced endless presser conveyors having lower horizontal flights aligned with and spaced from the upper'flight of said traveling conveyor, splitting disc means between the traveling conveyor and the lower flights of the presser conveyors and parallel thereto, a drive shaft for carrying the splitting disc means and extending from above the lower flights of the presser conveyors between the same, end portions of the lower flights of the longitudinally disposed presser conveyors overlying chordal portions of the splitting disc means to press the buns against said traveling conveyor while being split, drive means for the conveyors, and drive means for said splitting disc.

4. A machine for splitting buns comprising, an endless conveyor having a horizontal upper flight, a pair of longitudinally spaced endless presser conveyors having lower horizontal flights aligned with and spaced from the upper flight of the first mentioned endless conveyor,

spaced splitting disc means located transversely of the conveyor and between the upper flight of the first mentioned conveyor and the lower flights of the presser conveyors and parallel thereto, drive shafts for carrying the splitting disc means and extending from above the lower flights of the presser conveyors between the same, end portions of the lower flights of the longitudinally disposed presser conveyors overlying chordal portions of the splitting disc means on opposing sides of their axes to press the buns against the first mentioned endless conveyor while being split.

5. In a bun splitting machine, the combination with a splitting disc rotatable in a horizontal plane upon a vertical shaft, of a conveyor member serving to support and feed buns to and past said disc whereby they may be split, and pressure applying means terminating short of and spaced from said shaft longitudinally of the conveyor member and serving to maintain feeding engagement of the buns with the conveyor member during the splitting operation.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 5, in which said shaft is provided with hearing means mounted for ad justment laterally of said conveyor member, the spacing of said pressure applying means from said shaft serving to accommodate its lateral adjustment with said bearing means.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Karhn May 23, 1911 Lawrence Mar. 25, 1919 Knapp J1me 7, 1921 Andrus Dec. 15, 1925 Bergen May 17, 1927 Ayars 'Jan. 31, 1928 M011 July 2, 1929 0st June 24, 1930 Ehrlich Sept. 27, 1932 Harrild Apr. 3, 1934 6 Hobbs et a1. Oct. 27, 1936 Souther Nov. 30, 1937 Holmes Mar. 11, 1941 Ahrndt Mar. 18, 1941 Gould Mar. 18, 1941 Tod Apt. 18, 1944 Elrod Oct. 31, 1944 Sauter et a1 Dec. 14, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 7, 1918 Sweden Nov. 16, 1926 

